Hotel case study

Introduction

A university who has energy storage assets and a diesel generator on their site is looking to provide flexibility services to Electricity North West through an Operational Utilisation contract by increasing/decreasing electricity supply or increasing/decreasing electricity demand during peak times or unplanned outages/faults.

About flexibility services

When the demand for electricity is greater than the amount that Electricity North West can provide, we procure flexibility services to alleviate constraints on our network during peak times. These services are provided by companies or individual customers known as flexibility providers who own assets in our region such as generators, battery storage and electric vehicle (EV) charge points that can generate more or use less electricity during a pre-agreed service delivery window, and can provide a minimum of 10kW either individually or via an aggregator. This allows us to balance supply and demand, ensuring a safe and reliable supply of energy for our customers and in return for providing extra capacity, flexibility providers receive payment from Electricity North West. 

Delivering a peak reduction service via demand reduction

The Operational Utilisation service is a pre-scheduled product that is procured to manage daily demand peaks or post-outage/fault response on the network.

There are a number of ways the hotel can adjust its energy demand and supply to deliver the Operational Utilisation service during the required window. These could include utilising energy storage assets (such as batteries) and a temporary diesel generator already installed at the campus.

Battery energy storage enables demand flexibility by storing surplus energy during periods of low demand (for example late at night or early morning) and releasing it during peak hours (for example between 4-8pm on a winter’s day), so that a site does not have to draw from the grid. By participating in this service, sites can store energy from solar or direct from the grid at off-peak times which is then used if requested during pre-arranged hours of participation.

Diesel generators can be utilised to provide temporary dispatchable power generation to the grid during network constraints or help power flowing during a fault/outage or be utilised by the hotel to limit its power import from the network during peak hours.

Pre-tender

Our tenders are published on the ElectronConnect platform twice a year in spring and autumn in line with our Network Development Plan (NDP) and Distribution Future Electricity Scenarios (DFES) publications to reflect our latest network requirements. To be notified of our upcoming tenders, the hotel signs up to our flexibility mailing list.   

Prior to the launch of the tender, the hotel:

• Registers the company onto ElectronConnect to pre-qualify to participate. The information submitted such as credit checks and insurance details are assessed by Electricity North West and once approved, the company's commercial qualification remains valid for future tender rounds
• Electricity North West utilises the framework style Standard Flexibility Services Agreement developed by the Energy Networks Association Open Networks Project. 
• Registers and pre-qualifies the assets they wish to put forward in the competition.

Tender process 

Pre-qualification

Once the Invitation to Tender (ITT) has been published, the hotel reviews the network’s flexibility services requirements using the interactive map on the platform and upon establishing that the assets are located within a requirement zone seeking an Operational Utilisation service, they calculate how much of the required demand response it can offer, when, and at what price. Prior to submitting a bid, the hotel uses the cost calculator on our website to check that the prices they are prepared to offer for availability and utilisation don't exceed the ceiling price that we are offering for the service as part of this tender round. The cost calculator can also be found within the ITT appendices. At this point, the hotel has decided they would like to participate in the tender.

Their next step is to complete technical qualification on ElectronConnect by confirming the assets they wish to put forward in the competition. Electricity North West then validates where the battery storage assets are connected to our network and that they’re eligible to participate, assess the technical details of the participating assets and their capability for delivery. If the hotel does not have 10kW of flexible capacity to offer it can still take part via a third party (an aggregator) – this is explained in more detail under a separate case study. The hotel is notified via ElectronConnect that their assets meet the requirements of this tender, allowing them to move to the bidding stage of the process. 

Submitting a bid

For the final stage of the procurement process, the hotel submits a bid to the tender on ElectronConnect. This is carried out by linking the pre-registered assets to the utilisation payments, as well as the periods where the hotel can deliver utilisation of the response. Once the bidding window has closed, Electricity North West assesses the tender responses before accepting or rejecting bids based on the proposed payment and the asset’s ability to meet the specification. If the hotel's bids are successful, they will then enter into a flexibility services agreement with Electricity North West to deliver the service within the required service windows. 

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